Optical recording medium having recording capacity information and method for indicating recording capacity

ABSTRACT

Optical recording medium having an indication of a recording capacity, and method for indicating a recording capacity of an optical recording medium facilitates recording or reproducing of an accurate amount of data by indicating the initial recording capacity determined by default and the varied recording capacity by additional allocation of the spare area and the like on particular area of the optical recording medium, and conducting the data writing or reading with reference to the initial recording capacity or the varied recording capacity depending on a state of variation of the recording capacity.

This application is a Continuation of Application No. 10/441,021, filedon May 20, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,721,252 B2, which is a Divisionalof Application No. 09/387,853 filed on Sep. 1, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No.6,788,631 B1, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated byreference and for which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. §120; andthis application claims priority of Application No. 36150/1998 filed inKorea on Sep. 2, 1998 and Application No. 49937/1998 filed in Korea onNov. 20, 1998 under 35 U.S.C. §119.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a rewritable optical recording mediumsystem, and more particularly, to an optical recording medium having anindication of a recording capacity, and a method for indicating arecording capacity of an optical recording medium.

2. Background of the Invention

In general, the optical recording media are sorted as a ROM type forread only, a WORM type for writing once, and a rewritable type forrepetitive writing. In disks which are rewritable freely andrepetitively, there are CD-RW (Rewritable Compact Disc), and rewritabledigital versatile disc (DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD+RW).

FIG. 1 illustrates an architecture of the rewritable optical disk,provided with, starting from inside, a lead-in area, a data area, and alead-out area. The data area is divided into zone units for randomaccess, each zone provided with a user area and a spare area for usewhen a defect is occurred in the user area.

Referring to FIG. 2, the lead-in area is provided with an embossed datazone, a mirror zone, and a rewritable data zone. The embossed data zone,an area preformatted in the disk fabrication process, has a recordeddata change of which is impossible. The embossed data zone in turn isprovided with a blank zone, a reference signal zone, a blank zone, acontrol data zone, and a blank zone. The control data zone contains anembossed data field, and the data field contains embossed control data.The control data has 192 ECC (error correction code) blocks, and eachECC block has 16 sectors. A first sector in each block contains physicalformat information, a second sector contains disk manufacturinginformation, and the rest of the sectors are left unused. And, therewritable data zone, an area provided for rewriting control informationvaried with data rewriting, has a protection track zone, a disk testzone, a drive test zone, a protection track zone, a disk ID(identification) zone, and defect management areas (DMA1 & DAM2) formanaging defects in the disk. The optical disk has a variety ofrecording capacities, such as 2.6 G (giga byte), 4.58 G, 4.7 G, andetc., determined according to track pitches which are distances betweenpit lines.

However, the recording capacity of a disk may differ even if the trackpitch and a size of the disk (for example, 8 cm or 12 cm) are identical.For example, if a spare area in a data area is employed as a user areaaccording to a disk manufacturing process or reformatting, or accordingto a size of a spare area allocated, the recording capacity of the diskmay differ even if the track pitch or the disk size is identical. Thespare area may be fixed or varied by enlargement as necessary. Herein,one example of the disk in which the spare area is fixed is called amode-1, and one example of the disk in which the spare area is varied byenlargement or extension is called a mode-2. In the case of mode-1, forsetting an initial data recording capacity (a user area) to be 4.58 GB,the spare area is allocated to be 145 MB (=mega byte) every time. In themode-1, the 145 MB of the spare area may be allocated on top of the userarea entirely as shown in FIG. 4A, or divided to top and bottom of theuser area as shown in FIG. 4B, when 25 MB may be allocated to the topand the rest is allocated to the bottom by taking interchangeabilitywith the mode-2 into consideration. The spare area allocated to the topis called as a primary spare area (first SA), and the spare areaallocated to the bottom is called as a supplementary spare area (secondSA). In the case of mode-2, in order to set an initial data recordingcapacity (i.e., a user area) to be 4.7 GB, 26 MB is allocated as thespare area. In this instance, as shown in FIG. 4C, the 26 MB is assignedto the first spare area in formatting, a second spare area may beallocated to the bottom additionally as necessary, or may be enlarged.In every one of the foregoing operations, the recording capacity of thedisk is varied. In those instances, the disk recording capacity can notbe known only from a size of track pitch or disk, which impedesrecording or reproduction of an accurate amount of data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an optical recordingmedium having an indication of a recording capacity, and a method forindicating a recording capacity of an optical recording medium thatsubstantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitationsand disadvantages of the related art.

An object of the present invention is to provide an optical recordingmedium having an indication of a recording capacity at a particular areathereof.

Other object of the present invention is to provide a method forindicating a recording capacity of an optical recording medium, whichcan indicate an initial recording medium of the recording medium at aparticular area of the optical recording medium and can indicate achanged recording capacity if the recording capacity is changed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method forindicating a recording capacity of an optical recording medium, in whichidentification information for indicating a recording capacity of theoptical recording medium is provided at a particular area of the opticalrecording medium for indicating an initial recording capacity of theoptical recording medium.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description which follows, and in part will be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Theobjectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized andattained by the structure particularly pointed out in the writtendescription and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purposeof the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the opticalrecording medium has a recording capacity indicated on a particular areaof a rewritable optical recording medium.

The recording capacity is indicated on an unused area of a lead-in area.

The recording capacity includes an initial recording capacity and avaried recording capacity of the optical recording medium.

The initial recording capacity of the optical recording medium isindicated by identification information.

In other aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method forindicating a recording capacity of a rewritable optical recordingmedium, including the steps of indicating an initial recording capacityon a particular area of the optical recording medium, and indicating avaried recording capacity, if the recording capacity is varied.

The varied recording capacity is overwritten on the initial recordingcapacity.

The varied recording capacity and the initial recording capacity areindicated at positions different from each other, and a fact ofvariation of the recording capacity is indicated.

The initial recording capacity of the optical recording medium isindicated with identification information added thereto.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a methodfor indicating a recording capacity of an optical recording medium whichindicates the recording capacity of the optical recording medium asidentification information, the recording capacity being varied with avariability of spare area.

The identification information is changed whenever the spare area isvaried.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention:

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates an architecture of a related art rewritable opticaldisk;

FIG. 2 illustrates an architecture of a lead in area shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates an architecture of a control block in the controldata zone in FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4A˜4C illustrate allocation examples of a first spare area and asecond spare area in a related art optical recording medium depending onmodes;

FIG. 5A illustrates an example of an initial recording capacity, whichis determined by default, indicated in an unused area of a control datazone in the lead-in area in a method for indicating a recording capacityaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5B illustrates an example of a variable recording capacityindicated in an unused area of a rewritable data zone in the lead-inarea in a method for indicating a recording capacity according to anembodiment of the present invention; and,

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of an initial recording capacity, which isdetermined by default, indicated by using identification information ina method for indicating a recording capacity according to an embodimentof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. The present invention indicates an initial recording capacity(or a recording capacity determined by default), and a varied recordingcapacity if the recording capacity is varied. The initial recordingcapacity may be determined by the manufacturer or the user. The initialrecording capacity is indicated in a particular area of the opticaldisk, for example, in the lead-in area. In this instance, the initialrecording capacity may be indicated in an unused area of an embosseddata zone, or a rewritable data zone of the lead-in area. In the casethe initial recording capacity is indicated in the embossed data zone ofthe lead-in area according to the present invention, as shown in FIG.5A, the initial recording capacity can be indicated, for example, onunused bytes (such as bytes of BP 17˜31, or 33˜47) of a first sectorcontaining physical format information among control data blocks in thecontrol data zone of the embossed data zone.

The recording capacity may be varied with the user's reformatting, or anadditional allocation of spare areas (for example, like mode-2). Thatis, if a spare area is formatted into a user area, the recordingcapacity of the disk can be increased. Or, the disk recording capacitymay be reduced by allocating a spare area as the case demands.Therefore, preferably a changed recording capacity may not be indicatedin an unused area in the embossed data zone of the lead-in area, becausea data written on the embossed data zone in the lead-in area is notcorrectable. Instead, as shown in FIG. 5B, the variable recordingcapacity may be indicated on a disk ID zone or an unused area of DMAarea in the rewritable data zone. In a case when the initial recordingcapacity of the optical disk is indicated on the rewritable data zone,the recording capacity varied thereafter can be overwritten on the sameposition. Once such an optical disk recording/reproduction is selected,recording/reproduction may be conducted with reference to the recordingcapacity indicated on the unused area of the rewritable data zonewithout variation of the recording capacity, separately. For example, ifthe recording capacity is indicated to be 4.7 G, data may be recorded orreproduced as much as 4.7 G, or if the recording capacity is indicatedto be 4.58 G, data may be recorded or reproduced as much as 4.58 G.

If the initial recording capacity and the varied recording capacity ofthe optical disk are indicated at positions different from each other,the initial recording capacity or the varied recording capacity may bereferred to depending on the fact of variation of the recordingcapacity. That is, the initial recording capacity may be indicated onthe embossed data zone in the lead-in area, and the varied recordingcapacity may be indicated on the rewritable data zone separately, or theinitial recording capacity and the varied recording capacity may beindicated at different positions of the rewritable data zone,respectively. In this instance, the fact of variation of the recordingcapacity may be indicated by using another additional information, orthe fact of variation of the recording capacity may be made identifiableby displaying the recording capacity with a value (for example, minimumor maximum) indicating that the recording capacity is not varied untilthe recording capacity is varied, and by indicating the varied recordingcapacity on the area in which the varied recording capacity is to beindicated, if the recording capacity is varied.

Once such an optical disk recording/reproduction is selected, variationof the recording capacity is checked with reference to the area wherethe additional information or the varied recording capacity isindicated. If it is found that the recording capacity is not varied, theinitial recording capacity (for example, the recording capacity writtenin the embossing data zone in the lead-in area) is read in data writingor reading. If it is found that the recording capacity is varied, thevaried recording capacity (for example, the recording capacity recordedin the rewritable data zone in the lead-in area) is read in data writingor reading. For example, if the initial recording capacity is 4.7 G, andthe spare area is allocated as necessary to reduce the recordingcapacity down to 4.58 G, data as much as 4.7 G can be recorded orreproduced until a variation of the recording capacity, and data as muchas 4.58 G can be recorded or reproduced after the variation of therecording capacity.

In the meantime, the initial recording capacity of the optical disk maybe indicated by using identification information. That is, as shown inFIG. 6, the initial recording capacity may be indicated with theidentification information added to a particular area (for example, DMAin the lead-in area, especially, unused areas of SDL or DDS). Forexample, if the optical disk is formatted in, or converted to mode-1,the identification information is reset to ‘0’, and if the optical diskis formatted in, or converted to mode-2, the identification informationis set to ‘1’. Reset of the identification information to ‘0’ impliesthat the optical disk has a fixed recording capacity without variationof the spare area, and the identification information set at ‘1’ impliesthat the optical disk has a varied recording capacity as the spare areais enlarged as necessary. Accordingly, if the identification informationis ‘0’ in recording/reproduction, the mounted optical disk is determinedto be in mode-1, and up to 4.58 G data may be written or read. And, ifthe identification information is ‘1’ in recording/reproduction, themounted optical disk is in mode-2, and up to 4.7 G data may be writtenor read. Thus, a disk capacity, i.e., kind of disks dependent on thedisk capacity can be known.

As has been explained, the optical recording medium having an indicationof a recording capacity, and the method for indicating a recordingcapacity of an optical recording medium of the present inventionfacilitates recording or reproducing of an accurate amount of data byindicating the initial recording capacity determined by default and thevaried recording capacity by additional allocation of the spare area andthe like on particular areas of the optical recording medium. Thepresent invention allows a data writing or reading with reference to theinitial recording capacity or the varied recording capacity depending ona state of variation of the recording capacity. The present inventionalso facilitates a mode selection and mode conversion and an accurateamount of data recording or reproducing even if the initial size of thefirst spare area in the mode-1 and mode-2 is the same by indicating theinitial recording capacity with the identification information andperforming the data recording or reproducing operation with reference tothe identification information.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the optical recording mediumhaving an indication of a recording capacity and the method forindicating a recording capacity of an optical recording medium of thepresent invention without departing from the spirit or scope of theinvention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover themodifications and variations of this invention provided they come withinthe scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

1. A recording medium, comprising: a recording capacity informationindicated on the recording medium, wherein the recording capacityinformation includes first information for indicating a fixed recordingcapacity of the recording medium, and second information for indicatingthe varied recording capacity of the recording medium, the secondinformation being recorded at a position different from the firstinformation.
 2. The recording medium of claim 1, wherein the recordingcapacity information is recorded on a lead-in area of the recordingmedium.
 3. The recording medium of claim 1, wherein the firstinformation is recorded on a pre-recorded area of the recording medium,while the second information is recorded on a recordable or rewritablearea of the recording medium.
 4. The recording medium of claim 1,wherein the first information is recorded with an identificationinformation added thereto.
 5. The recording medium of claim 1, whereinthe first information is recorded in a pre-recorded form on therecording medium.
 6. The recording medium of claim 1, wherein the secondinformation is varied depending on an assignment or variance of a sparearea to replace a defective unit.
 7. The recording medium of claim 6,wherein the second information indicates a capacity of a user data area,which excludes the spare area.
 8. The recording medium of claim 6,wherein the spare area is a second spare area.
 9. The recording mediumof claim 8, wherein the second spare area is excluded from a user dataarea, and the second information is the information at least excludingthe second spare area.
 10. A method for recording a recording capacityof a recording medium having a user area, the recording medium providedwith first information as pre-recorded form to indicate defaultrecording capacity, the method comprising the steps of: checking whetherthe recording capacity of the recording medium is varied; and recordingsecond information on a recordable or rewritable area of the recordingmedium to indicate a varied recording capacity if the recording capacityof the recording medium is varied as a result of the checking step,wherein the second information is recorded at a position different fromthe first information.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the firstinformation is provided with an identification information addedthereto.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first information isrecorded on a pre-recorded area of the recording medium, while thesecond information is recorded on the recordable or rewritable area ofthe recording medium.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the firstinformation indicates a capacity of 4.7 GB.
 14. The method of claim 10,wherein the first information indicates an entire recording capacity ofthe recording medium.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein the secondinformation is varied depending upon an assignment or variance of aspare area to replace a defective unit of a user data area.
 16. Themethod of claim 15, wherein the spare area is a second spare area. 17.The method of claim 16, wherein the second spare area is excluded fromthe user data area, and the second information is the information atleast excluding the second spare area.
 18. An optical recording mediumcomprising: a lead-in area divided into a pre-recorded area and arecordable or rewritable area; a user data area; and a lead-out area,wherein the lead-in area includes a recording capacity information forindicating a recording capacity of the optical recording medium, therecording capacity information including first information recorded in apre-recorded form on the optical recording medium to indicate a fixedrecording capacity, and second information recorded on the recordable orrewritable area of the optical recording medium to indicate a variedrecording capacity of the optical recording medium, wherein the firstand second information are recorded at different positions of theoptical recording medium.
 19. The optical recording medium of claim 18,wherein the second information is varied when a second spare area toreplace a defective unit of a user data area is assigned or expanded.20. The optical recording medium of claim 18, wherein the secondinformation is recorded with an identification information addedthereto.
 21. The optical recording medium of claim 20, wherein theidentification information is changed when the recording capacity of therecording medium is varied.
 22. The optical recording medium of claim18, wherein the spare area is a second spare area.
 23. The opticalrecording medium of claim 22, wherein the second spare area is excludedfrom a user data area, and the second information is the information atleast excluding the second spare area.
 24. The optical recording mediumof claim 18, wherein the second information indicates a recordingcapacity varied depending upon at least one of an assignment andvariance of a spare area.
 25. A method for recording a recordingcapacity of an optical recording medium, the optical recording mediumincluding a recording capacity information recorded on an area of theoptical recording medium, the recording capacity information includingfirst information recorded on a pre-recorded area of the opticalrecording medium to indicate a default recording capacity, and secondinformation recorded on a recordable or rewritable area of the opticalrecording medium to indicate a varied recording capacity of the opticalrecording medium, the method comprising the steps of: determiningwhether a spare area to replace a defective unit of a user data area isassigned or expanded; and updating the second information based upon aresult of said determining step.
 26. The method of claim 25, wherein thesecond information is recorded with an identification information addedthereto.
 27. The method of claim 26, wherein the identificationinformation is changed when the recording capacity of the opticalrecording medium is varied.
 28. The method of claim 25, wherein a secondspare area is excluded from the user data area.
 29. The recording ofclaim 25, wherein the first and second information are recorded ondifferent positions of the optical recording medium.
 30. A method forrecording a recording capacity of a recording medium, comprising thesteps of: providing a fixed recording capacity on the recording medium;and recording a variable recording capacity information on a recordableor rewritable area of the recording medium, wherein the fixed andvariable recording capacity information are recorded on differentpositions of the recording medium.
 31. The method of claim 30, whereinthe variable recording capacity information is varied when a spare areais assigned or expanded, the spare area being excluded from a user dataarea.
 32. The method of claim 31, wherein the spare area is a secondspare area.
 33. The method of claim 32, wherein the variable recordingcapacity information is the information at least excluding the secondspare area.
 34. A method for controlling a recording or reproducing dataon or from an optical recording medium, comprising the steps of: readingan information for indicating a recording capacity of the opticalrecording medium, the information including first information forindicating a default recording capacity of the optical recording medium,and second information for indicating a varied recording capacity of theoptical recording medium, wherein the first and second recordingcapacity information are recorded on different positions of the opticalrecording medium; and controlling the recording or reproducing data onor from the optical recording medium based on the first and secondinformation.
 35. The method of claim 34, wherein the first informationindicates a capacity of 4.7 GB.
 36. The method of claim 34, wherein thefirst information is recorded on a pre-recorded area of the opticalrecording medium, while the second information is recorded on arecordable or rewritable area of the optical recording medium.
 37. Themethod of claim 34, wherein the first information is recorded in apre-recorded form in the optical recording medium.
 38. The method ofclaim 34, wherein the first information indicates an entire recordingcapacity of the optical recording medium.
 39. The method of claim 34,wherein the second information is varied depending upon whether a sparearea to replace a defective unit is assigned or varied with respect tothe size.
 40. The method of claim 39, wherein the spare area is a secondspare area.
 41. The method of claim 40, wherein the second spare area isexcluded from a user data area, and the second information is theinformation at least excluding the second spare area.
 42. A method forrecording a recording capacity of a recording medium, the recordingmedium providing at least first information associated with a fixedrecording capacity on the recording medium, the method comprising thesteps of: checking if an area for performing a defect management isassigned or expanded; and recording a second information on a writablearea of the recording medium to indicate a status if the area forperforming the defect management is assigned or expanded as a result ofthe checking step, wherein the first and second information are providedon different positions of the recording medium.
 43. The method of claim42, wherein the second information indicates that the recording capacityis varied according to an assignment or expansion of the area forperforming the defect management, said area being excluded from a userdata area.
 44. The method of claim 43, wherein the area for performingthe defect management is a spare area to replace any defective unit ofuser data with a replacement unit.
 45. The method of claim 44, whereinthe second information excludes the spare area.
 46. A recording mediumcomprising: first information associated with a fixed recording capacityof the recording medium; and second information recorded on a writablearea of the recording medium to indicate a status when an area forperforming a defect management is assigned or expanded, wherein thefirst and second information are provided on different positions of therecording medium.
 47. The recording medium of claim 46, wherein thesecond information indicates that the recording capacity is variedaccording to an assignment or expansion of the area for performing thedefect management, said area being excluded from a user data area. 48.The recording medium of claim 47, wherein the area for performing thedefect management is a spare area to replace any defective unit of userdata with a replacement unit.
 49. The recording medium of claim 48,wherein the second information excludes the spare area.